Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Episode	Season {{#pad:1|2|0|left}}, Number 18
Air Date	April 29, 2010
Title Image	Gabriel McDow tied down on a bed for the Raven River experiments
Written by	Dawn Prestwich Nicole Yorkin
Directed by	Nick Gomez
Guest Stars	Annabeth Gish as Lita Michael Massee as Dyson Frost Barry Shabaka Henley as Agent Vreede Lee Garlington as Carline Ravi Kapoor as Malik Ron Orbach as Carl Corey Dominic Rains as Kahmir with James Callis as Gabriel McDow and Michael Ealy as Marshall Vogel
Co-starring	Lennon Wynn as Charlie Sarah Ripard as Dr. Rupin Verma Catherine McGoohan as Dr. Candace Weaver Stacy Hall as Ralph Marquessa Moreland as Ultrasound Technician Afshin de Jesus Hashemi as Waiter Sina Amedson as Taliban Gunman
Transcript
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"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is the eighteenth episode of season one of FlashForward. It first aired in the United States on April 29, 2010 on ABC. Janis Hawk is secretly recruited twice. The Mosaic Investigation learns that the blueprints Mark discovered are for a form of date computer. Mark Benford discovers that the white queen on his Mosaic Investigation wall contains a valuable clue. Olivia Benford encounters the enigmatic Gabriel McDow. Janis is ordered to kill.

Summary

Previously on FlashForward

• Aaron telling Stan that Tracy has been kidnapped and that he's going to Afghanistan. ("Let No Man Put Asunder")
• Gabriel approaching Olivia about the Raven River experiments. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
• Dyson telling Demetri about “thousands of [engineered] flashforwards”. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
• Simon telling Philippe that it's necessary anchor the consciousness to protect oneself from another blackout. ("Revelation Zero, Part 2")
• Dyson telling Mark, “You're gonna be saved by the lady you see every day” and being shot by Alda. ("The Garden of Forking Paths")
• Janis telling Jane Parker and Demetri about her intended pregnancy and that she is pregnant. ("Blowback") ("Let No Man Put Asunder")
• Janis telling Simon that his message has been received. ("Queen Sacrifice")

Janis's past

Lita recruits Janis

Two years before the blackout, Janis meets Lita and tells her about her training, including the “Yellow Brick Road”, an obstacle course. Lita tells Janis that she's a headhunter and wants to recruit Janis for “multitasking”.

Lita sends Janis to Carline, an associate of a dubious organization using the cover of working at Pet Emporium. She sets up Janis with an aquarium so she has an excuse to go to the pet store every couple of months. It is Janis's assignment to be the best agent she can be, lay in wait, and earn trust at the Bureau.

Marshall Vogel approaches Janis, presumably before she meets Lita. He tells her that he is working for the CIA and that he has reason to believe that someone will try to recruit Janis as a mole in the L.A. office. Vogel asks her to accept this offer and function as a double agent.

At the FBI

The Mosaic team reviews recent events

Mark, Janis, Stan, Shelly Vreede, and Marshall Vogel meet to discuss the information retrieved from Dyson Frost: The schematics, the diving suit photos and his final remark "in the end you'll be saved by the lady you see every day". Vogel expresses his disappointment about not getting more useful information from Frost and asks how it was possible he was killed by a terrorist who had been in custody until hours before. When Vogel doubts the value of the items and hints from Frost, Mark stresses that the fact that Frost was shot must mean the schematics and photos must be important.

What Gabriel knows

Gabriel shows Vreede and Olivia where the Raven River experiments took place.

Gabriel shows up in the Benford's living room and wants to talk to Olivia. He tells her some details from events in her past, like a Pixies concert. When he rumbles on that he has so much to tell her, Olivia eventually freaks out and calls for the FBI agent in front of her house. This causes Gabriel to flee the scene, but only after he warns Olivia not to buy coffee today "from the man that looks like Mr. Clean".

When Olivia arrives at Angeles Hospital, a car has crashed into the coffee stand, presumably killing the owner, a bald Caucasian man.

Back at home, she checks old photo albums to find that Gabriel has been right – down to details such as the color of her hat or dress. A much younger Gabriel also shows up in a couple photos - as a waiter at a wedding reception, and in the crowd at the Pixies concert.

Later Olivia talks to Shelly Vreede about Gabriel. She mentions that he talked about "Raven River" again. Because Dyson Frost talked to Demetri about the Raven River experiments, too, Vreede has a report ready. He tells Olivia about Raven River Hospital in Arizona, a hospital specializing in schizophrenia and autism. The hospital has been shut down in the 1980s due to "controversies". Olivia says they might have also treated savants, making a connection to the murdered man in the homeless shelter.

Vreede and Olivia drive to Arizona to check out the hospital. It's deserted, but when Olivia starts looking through a heap of paper Gabriel shows up again. He tells them that he and Kent Nelson were participants in the Raven River experiments. The participants were "put to sleep" and had many flashforwards of varying distance. Afterwards, the participants – presumably all with eidetic memory – had to write down every little detail they observed. The experiments were overseen by Dyson Frost. When Vreede tells Gabriel that Frost is dead, he replies "the early worm catches the bird".

Gabriel tells Olivia that she is "going the wrong way". That he had seen her in Harvard and they were friends – and that she is supposed to be with Lloyd, according to his flashes. He continues that Olivia "has to be there for things to come" and that she is a piece of the puzzle which "they" can't solve without her.

Janis's present

Janis and Carline study the blueprints that were found in Dyson's bag.

Mark and Janis find the ring hidden in the white queen.

Aaron's Search

Aaron and Malik in Kandahar.

Trivia

General

• This episode aired on April 29th, 2010, the day of the GBO on the show.

Production Notes

• Zachary Knighton (Bryce Varley) was credited but did not appear.
• Peyton List (Nicole Kirby) was credited but did not appear.
• Michael Massee (Dyson Frost) appeared without lines.

Cultural References

• Yellow Brick Road:

1. FBI: The Yellow Brick Road is the final test of the academy's Fitness Challenge series. Its wooded trails, climbing walls, ropes and 26 obstacles make it the ultimate challenger for everyone.
2. The Wizard of Oz: In both novel and film, it is the path that Dorothy is instructed to follow from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City in order to seek the aid of the Wizard of Oz. In the book The Patchwork Girl of Oz, it is revealed that there are two yellow brick roads from Munchkin Country to the Emerald City: according to the Shaggy Man, Dorothy Gale took the harder one in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: is a ballad performed by musician Elton John for his album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It was widely praised by critics, and some critics have named it John's best song.

• Clint Eastwood: Olivia comments on how the Raven Rivers Hospital looks like the setting for old slasher films, and Agent Vreede comments on how he is more of a Clint Eastwood fan.

Unanswered Questions

Unanswered questions
Do not answer the questions here. Keep the questions open-ended and neutral: do not suggest an answer. Avoid questions that are unlikely to be answered. More details...

Theories for these unanswered questions should go on this article's theory page.

General

• Is Janis Hawk really working for Carline and the Global Blackout conspiracy, or for Marshall Vogel and the CIA?
  • Is Vogel himself a mole, keeping an eye on Janis for the conspiracy?
• Is the ring that was inside the white queen the "missing ring" from "Playing Cards with Coyote"?
• How is Malik connected with Stan Wedeck?
• Why did Mark buy Janis' story about why she needed the blueprint, surely the antiquities professor would have told Mark that he did not tell Janis about the break in before she was found by Mark in his office trying to steal the only copy left?

External links

• Episode's article on IMDB